Exhaustive in scope and rich in detail, with its comprehensive documentation of the Near Eastern background to Biblical history, The Sacred Bridge Bible Atlas is one more stepping stone on the way to the understanding of Holy Scriptures. The Land of Canaan, the Land of Israel and early Roman Judea are treated as the southern part of the Levant and as the focus in Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean history.

To meet the need for clear and accurate information, Professors Anson F. Rainey and R. Steven Notley have come forward with an atlas that traces the course of Near Eastern history from the Chalcolithic Age (c. 3500 B.C.E.) to the defeat of Bar Kochba’s fighters and their retreat to the caves east of En-Gedi. The Atlas provides 300 state-of-the-art maps to show as far as possible in terms of modern knowledge the changes and historical processes that affected the lands of the Bible. Included are all historical and Biblical episodes that can be depicted cartographically—migrations and settlements, battles and conquests, the location and detailed movement of individual historical and biblical characters. In addition, The Sacred Bridge—Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World draws on information from all known ancient sources—Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Roman and others—to reveal trade routes, economic determinants, and the development of international relations. Maps, many of them never before attempted, are presented chronologically, with extensive interpretive texts alongside. Finds, tools, artifacts, inscriptions and other documents from each period also appear in conjunction with the maps.

The ultimate usefulness of any complex reference work depends on its index and its bibliography, and The Sacred Bridge—Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World provides everything that could be asked for in the way of organized assistance to the reader. Each person or site can be located. An invaluable chronological table correlates historical activity in the East (Mesopotamia and Anatolia), the southern Levant, Egypt and the Greco-Roman West from 2800 B.C.E. to the second century C.E. The superb reference sections contain every article, book or document consulted. The extensive index contains every place name that has been mapped and, in addition, names that still defy exact location but can be shown in relation to specific Biblical episodes.

New Testament geography, especially that of the Gospels, is interpreted in the light of the new understanding resulting from such discoveries as the Dead Sea Scrolls (e.g., the wider use of Hebrew as a social and religious vehicle than heretofore acknowledged). These refreshing insights serve to define geographical terms used in the New Testament and trace their origin. Documents are presented in their original languages and transcribed or translated into English. A special feature of this atlas is the insertion of these texts and their meaning within the narrative proper.

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